I have made my thirst, ……….(this is to say I have pounded the rust of it ……….as some received ore; ……….I have forged of my thirst a shape to fit my throat ……….and depths my throat decoyed) ……….the secret fire of my breath ……….that sharps the whistle of my teeth: the means by which […]
Category: Poetry
SUBMERGED — BENJAMIN BLAKE
Slow sinkingAs buildings tumble around mePalm fronts floaton an endless ocean of flotsamWe finally did itThe last bulletfired into the soft templeThe last razorbladeto be dragged down the weakened wristWe sold ourselvesfor instant gratificationThe only intellectual momentsfeigned, and made sure to be recordedA sorry state of affairs And the very worst thingis that we […]
Humans of New York – Benjamin Blake
Back alley abortion clinicsThe homeless man stabbed to deathAnd left to bleed out on the shit-stained streetA rape on a perfect summer’s dayThe corner store cashier is beat with a sawn-off baseball batFor trying to make a livingAnd meanwhile, somewhere far from the salty tang of the AtlanticThe soldier clutching the orphaned child to […]
Deep in Dorchester Bay – Jake Tringali
grim demons slumber in the sea by the thousands. floating about, deranged and bloated, looking like five-foot worms, cast into the bay by the great storms. the newest bodies, more plump, arms wide apart, hover a few feet above the sea floor, where grimy oxygen-starved blue mussels suck on mud. further on, more hideous bodies, […]
STERNBACH BEFORE THE SNOWS – Cody Simpson
Eternity is the absenceOf color: so notes the snow-blindMind. Staring into winter’s depthFrom the shelter of my chair,The light turns after a timeTo darkness; the former substanceOf my metaphysics dissolvesBefore my failing eyes. Soon,My sophistries warmed by the fire,I will again entertain KantAnd Dostoevsky, who returnWith the pleasant evenings. We talk,On the page, of […]
d.j.t. and the language of impudence – Robert Alan Rife
you carve away your slabs of inconvenience with silver spoon,handed to you in confidence that you mightearn your own pottage.through flared nostrils, you billow and bluster. a pall of disagreeable swaggerposing as fortitude – your aftershave. middle-pack crow at best, your squawking tenormakes ears bleed that otherwise wouldn’t bother.but loudest means best when the bleating flock […]
You Know How Many Bad Habits You Have? – Yuan Changming
How many? Including shortcomingsWeaknesses, character flaws andUgly birthmarks, they are as manyAs the countless stars on a mid-summerNight. Really? I am so very sorry!There is still one good thing you do have, thoughWhich is? Your heart is always full of sunlightEvery day when you rise with the sun, allThe stars vanish into my dream of […]
the everyday apocalypse – Jake Tringali
babies babies born babies born broken broken with blood infections babies birthing too early out and abandoned babies malformed and deformed with bad hearts children suffer illness pneumonia and colds young breaths snuffed cut slashed burnt a child drowns […]
Fugue (After Trakl) – Cody Simpson
I hear a death rattle in the night.A soft moan in the distanceSuffuses the atmosphereWith longing. Passing cars playAn inhuman music, their howlsDrifting in from nearby highways,Dying notes on a harmonica.There is a perfect stillnessTo the land of motion, nothingStirring in the tall grasses.Tomorrow, they will be beatingThe war drums, a foreknowledgeOf the disaster moving […]
The ghosts are hungry – Robert Alan Rife
The ghosts are hungry for more. But chiming bells overflow the glass and teeth chatter in the gray sun. There is music in the gravel tide, washing up like red medicine – bloodied capsules of cotton-talk, gauze-word, suture-see. It only gags the throat of a traffic laden wood. Clouds crippled by the old songs, […]